Old Maltage factory panorama

With wind blasting down the Canal today, it was all I could do to hold on to the painting and keep my bike from blowing over. From across the canal, there is a great view of the old Maltage factory, now a Montreal icon. Its completely visible from all angles, and provides a great backdrop for selfies along the canal bike paths. People stop all the time to take pictures of it, and intrepid kids still go in and explore the dangerous unstable structure. Its one of the few places where you can still see a SAKE graffiti art... he used to be the most prolific writer in Montreal, with thousands of graffitis, but he retired about ten years ago and people painted over his stuff. The PJD 26 on the right most silo was actually a SLUK rappel piece, he uses mountain climbing equipment and paint rollers to make these large wall murals. Recently, he did a piece on the Molson Brewery along with KONG but it has been buffed off now. 

Old Maltage factory panorama, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April 2026 

Yellow flowers, Spring is here!?

I had been lamenting the fact that everything was still grey and brown... today I finally saw some yellow wild flowers growing down in the industrial-residential area near the Lachine canal. The rest of the grassy expanse, which is a community nature reserve, was a mottled mix of toasty yellow, olive, brown, dark yellow and green. I used a variety of colours and brush techniques to create the effect of a Springtime field of grass. 

First flowers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

On the left you see part of the SCAN tribute wall, along Cabot street south of the Canal. I hadn't noticed before but the wall, seen in tuquoise here, is a giant rendition of SCAN, the letters reaching about 4 stories high. Also, the people who did the wall, shortly after SCAN died, are graffiti artists from Montreal and around the world. If you are into graffiti or urban art, this place is worth a visit. Its near the corner of Avenue Gilmore, seen in between the green shed and the SCAN warehouse. The writer on the side wall was FOST, an old timer, but I changed it to my initials. 

Scan wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026

Here is a painting of the Canal lock overflow falls, it has a pedestrian and bike bridge going across. In the background there were a bunch of highway signs from autoroute 15. There was a massive BTH graffiti on the stone walls, its the name of a crew, but I changed the first letter to P, and put in a JD. In fact, I almost always change the graffiti to be my initials because its fun to do so. Copying a graffiti artist's style is called 'biting'. 

Lock falls Spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

I sized-up this old metal post several times for a painting, but never went ahead with it. Today I figured it was time, you never know how long these things last. The post was originally painted with iron oxide colour, and had a number stamped on with yellow painted font. Over the years, it rusted out, paint chipped, and someone spray painted their initials over top with silver paint. It was a very technical painting to do, since you can not paint light on dark, I had to establish the yellow and silver-effect, then paint around the lettering. In the background is a sweaty old warehouse covered in PJD 26! Some kids were walking around the roof of this thing... seemed dangerous but I can understand the appeal of exploring old buildings. 

Zen factory biting, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

What's the blue stuff in the sky?

Today, after I got out of the office finally, I wondered: What's the blue stuff in the sky? Normally the sky is grey and rainy... oh yeah, its a blue sky! And that yellow circle up there... its the sun! Finally a bit of sun, and tomorrow will even be a balmy 21℃ in Montreal. In this scene I am looking up at the old Maltage factory tower adorned with a red and pink house. The sky is done by blending phthalo green (PG7) with phthalo blue sapphire (PB15), the one from Holbein. Using most any other phthalo blue wont work because the formulas tend to be staining and obnoxious. The Holbein one is easier to control in blended washes, its one of the few paints I would recommend by brand, phthalo blue sapphire from Holbein. 

Old Maltage looking up, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Here is the adjacent view, although I omitted all the graffiti this time, just PJD 26 if you look closely enough. I cut up another painting and am using the back of it for some paintings. The brick is a blend of red ochre (PR102), pyrol orange (PO73) and orange (PO62). 

Old Maltage side, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

The boulevard Monk bridge it hard to paint, its a light grey against a dark blue and orange background. In watercolour you have to paint the background in between the foreground elements since there is no way to paint light over dark. 

Monk bridge canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

This secretive building is some sort of data center, it has imposing green tinted windows and a confusing array of lego-brick-like architecture. The olive greens of the pine tree and grass set well against the greens and turquoises, along with a sapphire blue sky. 

Secret building entrance, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Here is the so called 'Twisty Groove', its a small vacant lot that was once mowed, now they just let it grow wild. At the moment, the grass is coming up and it almost looks like a normal lawn, but soon it will overgrow with wild plants, flowers, and attract butterflies. That is, if the city can leave it alone! 

Twisty groove spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Night angles

Along the Maisonneuve bike path there are a few car washes and auto mechanics, including this one called Lave Auto. It was closed of course, being late at night, but there was still an eerie greenish glow coming from the interior. In the background there was a residential building with lights on. The sky had an interesting gradation of mauve, which was mixed with indo blue (PB60) pyrol orange (PO73) and some purple magenta (PV55) along the top. 

Lave Auto night angle,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Further towards downtown and there are good views of the Farine Five Roses sign at night, illuminated in bright red lights against a dark blue-cyan sky. In the foreground is a long warehouse with lights reflecting on the Lachine Canal, ice melted finally, and a commuter train went by, you can see it in the middle of the scene. 

Farine Five Roses train canal night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Dépanneur Elephant, colourful signs

In downtown Montreal there is an area called Shaughnessy Village, its roughly between Dawson College and Concordia University (Sir George Williams campus). This old dépanneur, called Elephant Direct is on Chomedey st, near the old Forum. It looks to be shuttered, and an adjacent building looks boarded up too. One can imagine this prime real estate would make for a good condo tower, they built many around here. The architecture was a hodgepodge of ideas, you can see a classic French roof-line with bay windows and a steep sloping shingled facade. In the middle, is a corrugated plastic roof that covers a balcony. It looks like someone still lives in the mid and upper floors. Metal bars were behind the window, and a metal grating was in front, so pretty secure it would seem. 

Dépanneur Elephant Direct, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April 2026 

 

Looking east along st Catherine, there are many restaurants and shops with interesting exteriors. Over the years, they have been renovated, painted over, built on, painted again... resulting in more hodgepodge architecture. This one had tall 'stucco' panelling, like a slap of rough asphalt, and brown aluminum siding, with a black shingle roof. Red, orange, yellow and chartreuse signs popped off against an otherwise grey, blue and brown drizzly day. The building at center bottom in the distance is the Place Ville Marie tower. 

Red, orange, yellow chartreuse signs, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Please come back another day...

Rain, rain go away, please come back another day... actually, the rain is great for the plants outside, and its clearing out all the dust and dirt from winter. In Cabot square, there was a final pile of dirty snow melting away in the misty drizzle. A bus was parked in the background, with a port-o-let in the middle of the scene, anchoring the composition. I'm looking forward to painting scenes like this on sunny days when I have a bit more time. 

Cabot remaining snow pile, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

The old Canadien's arena, the Forum, is now a large shopping complex with black cladding. There is a Dollar store but I changed the sign to my initials. The trees here are very mossy, a dark olive green with black accents and hints of red-orange leaf buds. 

Trees old Forum, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Rain rain go away!

The rain subsided enough for me to get out at lunch hour and pick up a sandwich and bread at Snowdon bakery. It started up again and I made a quick painting from under the front of the City Fruterie strip mall on Harley street.  

Lights City Fruterie, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

It was a water park in more ways than one, down in Coffee Park. They built a water play area for kids here, I just painted the scene since it was one of the few areas with an overhang and some rain protection. A commuter train went by in the background. 

Water park, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

All the leaves were on the ground, from last year. As old leaves decay they fertilize the grass and roots of the trees for more growth. Soon things will start growing again and I look forward to seeing some flowers. 

Trees no leaves, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026